# Why does "git log --reverse -1" print the HEAD commit? 3 messages from 2008-05-31 to 2008-05-31. Participants: Teemu Likonen, Miklos Vajna. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/13740 ## Teemu Likonen, 2008-05-31 14:11 Subject: Why does "git log --reverse -1" print the HEAD commit? Message-ID: <20080531141102.GA3035@mithlond.arda.local> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20080531141102.GA3035%40mithlond.arda.local ``` It feels wrong that "git log -1" and "git log --reverse -1" both print the same commit: HEAD. Why is that? Since "git log --reverse" starts from the bottom I'd have expected "-1" to print one commit from the bottom. ``` ## Miklos Vajna, 2008-05-31 14:24 Subject: Re: Why does "git log --reverse -1" print the HEAD commit? Message-ID: <20080531142408.GL29404@genesis.frugalware.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20080531142408.GL29404%40genesis.frugalware.org In-Reply-To: <20080531141102.GA3035@mithlond.arda.local> ``` On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 05:11:02PM +0300, Teemu Likonen wrote: > It feels wrong that "git log -1" and "git log --reverse -1" both print > the same commit: HEAD. Why is that? > > Since "git log --reverse" starts from the bottom I'd have expected "-1" > to print one commit from the bottom. -1 limits the commit list to one element and then it prints that range in reverse order, which is the same for a single commit. ``` ## Teemu Likonen, 2008-05-31 14:33 Subject: Re: Why does "git log --reverse -1" print the HEAD commit? Message-ID: <20080531143327.GA4121@mithlond.arda.local> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20080531143327.GA4121%40mithlond.arda.local In-Reply-To: <20080531142408.GL29404@genesis.frugalware.org> ``` Miklos Vajna wrote (2008-05-31 16:24 +0200): > On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 05:11:02PM +0300, Teemu Likonen > wrote: > > It feels wrong that "git log -1" and "git log --reverse -1" both > > print the same commit: HEAD. Why is that? > > > > Since "git log --reverse" starts from the bottom I'd have expected > > "-1" to print one commit from the bottom. > > -1 limits the commit list to one element and then it prints that range > in reverse order, which is the same for a single commit. Oh yeah, that's the logic, thanks. I find it counter-intuitive but I'll survive. ```